Gate latches have been employed for a long time to latch a gate when it is pushed to a closed position and to hold it in the closed position against inadvertent opening. In many instances, such gate latches have comprised a latch bar which may be mounted by a pair of screws on a gate structure, such as the gate or the post against which it closes. A latch body may be fixed to the other gate closure in alignment with the latch bar. A latch lever, pivotally mounted in the latch body, may be actuated by contact with the latch bar to move to an elevated position until such time as the latching surface of the lever drops over the bar and thus captures it between the latching surface and the inner end of the body. Thus, the gate can be held in the closed position.
Over a given period of time, nearly any given gate will begin to sag or become misaligned with respect to its adjacent post. Such distortion might be caused, for example, by weathering, weakening of the hinges, warping of the wood, etc. When this occurs, the latch bar will no longer be properly aligned with the latch body. Consequently, it will be quite difficult to latch the gate in the closed position and thus prevent unauthorized entry to the area being protected by the gate.
In the past, in order to prevent such misalignment, a substantially continuous maintenance program had to be performed on the gate. Alternatively, it was necessary to realign the bar and the latch body by repositioning at least one of them. In many instances, such repositioning resulted in a weakening of the wood of the gate structure as a result of the formation of a plurality of screw holes in the wood.
In fact, when such repositioning was required in the past, it was often required only to a very slight extent. Consequently, the closeness of the old fastener holes to the new fastener holes resulted in a significant weakening of the gate structure. Often, in fact, the weakening was so extensive that it became substantially impossible to firmly remount the element being adjusted. Consequently, it has become extremely desirable to provide a device which will allow the bar and/or body to be repositioned on their respective gate structures without weakening the gate.